how many neutrals is too many? - YouLookFab Forum

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how many neutrals is too many?

Adelfa

Veteran

I so admire the pared-down wardrobes that feature maybe black, white, and an accent color like red. But I love several neutrals and can't choose between them. My concern is that my wardrobe, which I try to keep small, won't work if I have too many neutrals. I love black, gray, dark brown, and navy--in about that order. To make it worse, the color-colors I like are almost neutral, like olive, aubergine, and the less bright shades of cobalt.

Though I'm worried my few pieces won't have the mileage that they'd have if I disciplined myself more, I really like wearing my neutrals together, which is a look Angie has featured from time to time. And my lifestyle and job don't require a lot of matching.

For warm weather, I use white, taupe, and gray, with a little bit of pale pink and sage.

Have you ever worried that you had too many neutrals? Or do you stay pretty focused with your neutrals?

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30 replies

Latest reply was from Helena

Suz

(website)

Veteran

Most of my wardrobe is neutral. Then again, I consider red and leopard print to be neutral.

In all seriousness, I have ink, navy, greys (the whole range from charcoal to dove), winter white, white, cream, taupe, black (though black is more of an accent in my closet). I have cognac accessories.

I miss seeing your outfits! Post a few for us?

Adelfa

Veteran

Hi Suz, I have cognac too, though I decided not to go there, lol. Plus I have loden green booties--I think that's another color that's almost a neutral.

Thank you for the kind words, you made my day. All my outfits are so DARK that I fear they don't photograph well. For instance, a recent outfit (that DD was really good) was darkest port wine jeans, cognac booties that photograph dark, and a black top. I think with my level of technology the colors would be indistinguishable! I will see what I can do, though!

shipskitty

Veteran

I don't worry too much about what my main neutrals are. I worry more about whether my neutrals go together. So in my wardrobe you will find a spectrum of ink/navy, grey, taupe and black, a little cream/off-white. When I say 'a spectrum' I mean within grey there might be pale greys through to dark charcoal. I try to keep them all on the cooler side of the spectrum. Then everything else must 'go' with those colours.

Of course sometimes I don't get it quite right (I'm looking at you slightly warm-toned 'greige' wedge pumps) but most of the time I can still find a way to make those work with some of the neutrals even if they won't go with all of them.

Adelfa

Veteran

shipskitty, I've often wondered if neutral lists for leather items should be different. I know I don't follow the same rules for selecting colors for shoes/belts/bags as I do for clothing items. And yes, I go warmer in the leather things.

Suz

(website)

Veteran

Heh, Shipskitty and I have the same wardrobe.

I know about the photo challenges. I just use a flash and/or lighten as necessary. The colours aren't completely true most days, but ..you know.

Also, don't you have some citron?

shipskitty

Veteran

Hmm... that's a interesting question because of course cognac goes beautifully with both cool and warm-toned items but I would have said it was essentially a 'warm' colour.

I'll have to think about that some more.

Jaime

(website)

Veteran

I have black, white, lots of greys, all sorts of blues, some olive, some cognac and lots of this and that. I don't worry about it at all, but cohesive is not the word that springs to mind when I think of my clothes. And I second Suz in that I would love to see some of your terrific outfits!

Adelfa

Veteran

I should have guessed that my dear YLF sisters wouldn't see a problem with lots of neutrals! I aspire to minimalism and I believe I'm somewhere between half way and three quarters of the way there. But I'm finding I have no desire to finish the job. I like a bit of profusion!

Thanks, Shevia!

shedev

Veteran

My closet is almost all neutrals. Occasionally I do wonder what happened to the colors. Like the clothes bandits must have struck. My only non neutrals are a couple burgundy and cobalt items. My closet does function much more cohesively than it ever has.

Joy

Veteran

I used to think as you indicated. That simplifying the closet should mean limiting neutrals. I tried but could not do it. Often I would rather wear neutrals together than add a color. Actually when wearing neutrals together, one or more can function as a color. For me it is often brown or white. I can't think of a neutral that I won't wear.

Adelfa

Veteran

Shedev, your closet sounds just like mine, where even the colors are like neutrals!

Joy, that's it exactly--I tried to limit neutrals but couldn't do it. Neutrals make me happy when I wear them! And I am so glad it's considered okay to mix them now!

Deborah

Veteran

I am pretty focused with my neutrals. And as you know I love my neutrals and don't really like colour that much. So I don't worry about how many neutrals I have as that is where my need for variety is satisfied.

My wardrobe is black, grey, navy, white/cream. I then have what I think of as my accent colours which are Red, Cobalt, Green & Coral. Having said that, I have 1 x red top, 5 cobalt items, 1 green sweater and 1 coral top (which is currently in my holding zone).

carter

Veteran

I have black, gray, taupe/mushroom, white, denim, and bits of dark brown and navy. I sometimes think it's too many as well, but I love all of them on their own and together. I can't remember the last time I bought anything in an actual color. I still wear older pieces in turquoise, lime, pink, dark red, and a couple one-off things in orange and purple. I'd like it to be simpler, but it is what it is.

Adelfa

Veteran

Deborah, I know you have all of those neutrals, but I think of you as a disciplined black person--which feels very affirming if even you have that many!

Carter, you have the same ones that I do. Truly, it is what it is! That's what I'm aiming for now I think!

AM

Veteran

Occasionally I have strayed from my neutrals and then I always go back to my neutrals (and almost always regret the dollars spent on other colors). Black, grays, ink, light gray blue/light blue, white --with touches of berry and camel. And I would say my love of black continues to grow and grow! I know this is limited but it really makes me feel the most comfortable.

Sharon

Veteran

Another lover of neutrals! I don't think there is such a thing as too many. I stick to black, white, grey and navy as my base colours and tan for my accessories. Then I add in other colours as the mood takes me, but without much of a plan (hence the orange crop, citron T and pink culottes). I find that with lots of neutrals I can usually find something that will play nicely with my coloured picks.

Staysfit

Veteran

I only have a few neutrals right now - charcoal, light heather gray/dove gray, white and denim. I have more colors than neutrals. I like the limitation on neutrals. It makes my wardrobe very easy to mix and match. The same goes for the mix of colors that I have. The down side is that it makes shopping tough. You have to be very disciplined about sticking to your color palette and not straying when you find something that you like that isn't in your colors. I do not find any limitation in versatility of my clothing based on whether it is a neutral or a color. The limitations come based on the silhouette, texture, and whether something is basic, or a statement piece. For example, I just purchased a blouse with tulip sleeves. It cannot be comfortably worn under a jacket which limits it's versatility, but it's color, which is fuchsia would not; Fuchsia would go with pretty much everything in my wardrobe.

Summer

Veteran

My neutrals remain constant: navy, white, grey and a little black. They all have to work together and with the cool colours that I wear, such as purples, blues and berry colours. I rarely wear all-neutral outfits because I love colour, especially near my face, but I'll sometimes do navy/white/grey combinations.

I think a lot depends on budget and size of wardrobe. For me, both are small.

Dimity

Colour seems over-rated to me right now. I'm really enjoying playing with neutrals, and I've decided it doesn't matter how many different neutrals I have because I'm boss of me. Fun, eh.

kkards

Veteran

neutrals are colors!
like you, i would say 80-90% of what i own is a neutral. honestly, i used to think it was a problem, but every time i'd buy a 'color', i'd panic over how to wear it. so now i'm quite happy with my neutrals.

Marilyn

Veteran

I love neutrals and my wardrobe is becoming more and more neutral with black, navy, grays and whites. The look makes me happy so I don't see a problem with it.
Many of my older coloured items are currently in the holding zone. I'm still loving reds and burgundy......currently my colour of choice.

MsMary

Veteran

Adelfa, I feel like all the colors you posted play quite nicely together so I don't know why you would pare down unless you really wanted to. After all, "neutrals," by definition, are colors that go with pretty much anything.

And as Sharon points out, with many different neutrals you can always find something to go with whatever "color-color" strikes your fancy.

shiny

Veteran

My neutrals are black, gray (from light to charcoal), cream/white, and navy (in that order). I have a handful of camel items but I keep that to a minimum. I draw the line at brown -- because I find that adding in shades of brown complicates factors and I'll wind up with a second wardrobe of warm shades and items that don't mix and match so well with other items. Camels/cognacs are okay in small doses; it's chocolate browns, beiges, khakis that get me into trouble.

When I first joined YLF, I had a "double personality" closet like this -- I look best by far in cool rather than warm tones, but I'm just neutral enough, I can get away with warm tones too, it's just not ideal and requires different color hair and makeup. That said I do adore army green: accents my eyes. I consider army green a neutral, but I am using it these days as more of an accent color, as I'm using cognac/camel as an accent color.

I don't think my wardrobe could operate without black, gray and white, but navy is optional as I find it plays the same basic role as black. Except when worn with black, then I view it as a color not a neutral, if that makes sense?

I do need color in my wardrobe but I run about 75% neutrals and 25% color. I would get sad if my wardrobe was just neutrals, yet I cannot operate or get dressed without a heavy dose of them.

ElleH

Veteran

I have all the neutrals & I think I have the problem Shiny speaks of & that you're afraid of Adelfa. I keep feeling the need for more shoes, bags, belts, jackets etc to go with the warms & the cools. I know one is supposed to be able to mix warm & cool & sometimes I do, like cognac with ink or navy, but other times I feel wardrobe holes. Anyway, I don't have much colour. I have a tomato bag, a red belt (that I never wear) and some coloured dresses as they don't have to match anything except complementary shoes. I long for the simplicity of Emmanuelle Alt's signature minimal neutrals & colours & I think it would help my budget but I see things on YLF & the Internet & think I'd like that. That's what happened with ink & navy & camel & taupe & white & olive. I used to just wear black, grey with some red & also blue denim.

CocoLion

(website)

Veteran

Haven't read all of the responses yet, but to give you a direct opinion, I think you have too many neutrals for a small wardrobe.

On my cruise I kept my neutrals to black-white-navy-gray. I used cognac and coral as my accent colors. Dresses could be a completely different color as they require less coordinating. It was so easy to get dressed, and my neutrals played well together. I think things become more complicated when you have too many neutrals.

My advice is to put some of those extra neutrals away for a month and focus only on the pieces and colors you love, and see what you learn. You could have a completely different neutrals palette for each season, although I realized there are fewer season to play with in LA. However you could artificially create some of those seasons to prevent wardrobe fatigue.

You could also assign some neutrals the accent color role. Cognac is a neutral in Angie's ensembles but for me, I made it an accent color.

ETA -- After re-reading my response and others' responses -- I realize my suggestion is informed by un-fancy.com's seasonal capsule wardrobe approach. Which I know has been controversial on YLF but her wardrobe management approach -- where you pack things away into a holding zone, to clear your head -- is useful to me.

deb

Veteran

Msmary would say 'any color can be a neutral' and I agree with her. I tend to think my neutrals are which colors I have the most of in my closet.

Adelfa

Veteran

Thanks so much for all of your thoughts! I think my bare minimum neutrals are black, gray, and white/cream--DD says blue denim is free! What I've discovered is that I love throwing in warmer colors in my shoes--chocolate, cognac, taupe, and "nude"--which to my eye look lovely with black and gray.

I do think it's caused problems when I've tried to bring these colors into other clothing items (not shoes), for the precise reason several of you have pointed out--it becomes really hard to fit those pieces in, when I have a deliberately smaller wardrobe.

I'm realizing that my fabric neutrals are different from my leather neutrals. Has anybody noticed that for themselves?

Aziraphale

Veteran

What, you can have too many neutrals? hehehe

OK, seriously. My 'core' neutrals (black/white/grey/blue denim) are the same as yours, and I agree that brown/cognac/nude shoes look great with those.

Yes, my fabric neutrals are different than my leather ones. I don't wear navy footwear, for example, but I like navy clothing. I have several pairs of brown shoes, which bookend nicely with my brown hair, but I have discovered over the past few years that I generally don't wear shades of brown -- with the exception of brown tweed. I bought a camel skirt a couple of years ago, and it always makes me feel like a librarian (not the sexy kind!). Also, I have three J. Crew Tippi sweaters -- silver, navy and toffee -- and guess which one I never wear? The toffee-coloured one.

And for the record, my one and only handbag is cognac. I love how it looks with black/grey/denim outfits.

Day Vies

Veteran

I know where I live with neutrals, my favorites are navy, charcoal and cream/white. I am not sure I personally can have too many neutrals only because I prefer such bold bursts of contrasting color I need neutrals to anchor my outfits so that the colors are showcased (and I don't look like I got dressed in the dark at a paint factory). The same is true for accessories and jewelry because I love statement necklaces; they need neutrals to play supporting roles.

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